{"product_id":"shemerchants-buccaneers-and-gentlewomen-british-women-in-india-9780349008271","title":"SheMerchants Buccaneers and Gentlewomen British","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e''Sharply observed, snappily written and thoroughly researched, She Merchants provides a fabulous panorama of a largely ignored area of social history.  Katie Hickman successfully challenges the stereotype of the snobbish, matron-like memsahib by deploying a riveting gallery of powerful and often eccentric women ranging from stowaways and runaways through courtesans and society beauties to Generals'' feisty wives and Viceroys'' waspish sisters. It is full of surprises and new material and completely engaging from beginning to end'' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eWilliam Dalrymple \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe first British women to set foot in India did so in the very early seventeenth century, two and a half centuries before the Raj. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWomen made their way to India for exactly the same reasons men did - to carve out a better life for themselves. In the early days, India was a place where the slates of ''blotted pedigrees'' were wiped clean; bankrupts given a chance to make good; a taste for adventure satisfied\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSharply observed, snappily written and thoroughly researched, She Merchants provides a fabulous panorama of a largely ignored area of social history. Katie Hickman successfully challenges the stereotype of the snobbish, matron-like memsahib by deploying a riveting gallery of powerful and often eccentric women ranging from stowaways and runaways through courtesans and society beauties to Generals' feisty wives and Viceroys' waspish sisters. It is full of surprises and new material and completely engaging from beginning to end -- William Dalrymple\u003cbr\u003eAbsolutely brilliant . . . remarkable women, until now almost unknown. I was so gripped I couldn't put it down -- Antonia Fraser\u003cbr\u003eGoes beneath the surface of imperial male history . . . a cast of extraordinary women. Wonderful -- Anita Anand\u003cbr\u003eFascinating . . . I was swept along by Hickman's concise chapters and her crisp, wry style * The Times *\u003cbr\u003eThrilling tales of some of our wild colonial women . . . There have been other studies of the British memsahibs but none so focused on the adventurous and unconventional, and none more \u003cb\u003econscientiously researched, historically sound and compellingly \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ewritten\u003c\/b\u003e. An excellent book -- John Keay * Evening Standard *\u003cbr\u003e[A] fascinating and informative book -- Virginia Nicholson * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003e[A] colourful, witty and elegantly written new perspective on British India through the eyes of some of the women who were there . . . Hickman gives us a wealth of entertaining details * Daily Mail *\u003cbr\u003eRich in detail and full of astonishing stories * Country Life *\u003cbr\u003eHickman deftly negotiates the shifting politics of time and place . . . Hickman has a novelist's touch -- Jane Robinson * Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003eA welcome corrective to Raj-dominated, male-heavy histories of Britain's relationship with India * History Revealed *\u003cbr\u003eEye-popping and extremely readable -- Jenny Colgan * Spectator *\u003cbr\u003eA history of the bolshy, pioneering British women who sailed for India * The Times *\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Little, Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48733636198743,"sku":"9780349008271","price":10.44,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780349008271.jpg?v=1720000954","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/shemerchants-buccaneers-and-gentlewomen-british-women-in-india-9780349008271","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}